UK investors could soon be given the opportunity to test the culture warriors’ latest rallying cry of ‘go woke go broke’.
James Fishback (he/him), a hedge fund manager and acquaintance of President-elect Donald Trump, is reportedly interested in opening up his ‘anti-woke’ Azoria Meritocracy investment fund to UK investors.
According to a report from The Telegraph, Fishback intends to court the support of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage to pursue his UK ambitions.
Fishback launched Azoria Meritocracy at a recent event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Florida resort, where he railed against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring policies in corporate America.
Due to launch in the US in early 2025, Azoria Meritocracy will be an S&P 500 tracker fund, excluding any companies that employ DEI policies.
It will be managed by new investment firm Azoria under the SPXM ticker.
Meritocracy, says Fishback and other anti-woke campaigners, should be the cornerstone of corporate values rather than racial and gender quotas, and other social justice initiatives.
Starbucks has been the whipping boy of anti-woke campaigners in recent times. In his Mar-a-Lago speech, Fishback welcomed the firing of former Starbucks chief executive Laxman Narasimhan in place of “skilled business operator” Brian Niccol.
Fishback has yet to release the full list of companies that will be excluded from Azoria Meritocracy.
Despite the rhetoric surrounding the fund, Azoria says SPXM is not about ‘woke’ versus ‘anti woke’ or ‘left’ versus ‘right’, but about ‘right’ versus ‘wrong’.
This isn’t about “woke” vs. “anti-woke”
This isn’t about “left” vs “right”
It’s about “right” vs. “wrong”
It’s wrong to hire Americans based on their race or gender, and it’s wrong to run a company that way.
Meritocracy is this way. https://t.co/9EDxkeiHmM
— Azoria (@investazoria) December 10, 2024
SPXM will not be the first ‘anti-woke’ fund.
Hal Lambert’s Point Bridge America First ETF (MAGA) was launched in 2017 to invest in supposedly Republican-leading corporations.
Top MAGA holdings include oil and gas firm ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP, ETR:YCP), trading platform Robinhood and energy company Vistra.
MAGA has returned 25% in the past 12 months and 13% over five years, according to etf.com data.
This performance is slightly below the S&P 500’s 28% return over 12 months and significantly below the S&P 500’s five-year return of 88%.